Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 739 Raid on Jinzhou

Due to the shortage of troops, the main forces of the Liao army were mainly distributed in Jinzhou, Dadingfu and Liaoyangfu. Although the deployment of troops kept the key areas, they also gave up most of the defense of Tokyo Daocheng.

The Song army obviously seized the loopholes of the Liao army's infantry, starting from the periphery, and continued to eat away at the cities and land of the Liao state.

At the same time that the Song army captured Baozhou and Xuanzhou at the mouth of the Yalu River, a fleet composed of [-] large ships and [-] Song troops set off from Pingyi City in Jingzhou again, sailed into the Huntong River, which is Heishui, and traced back to the river. Going south to the south of the Yangtze River, the second campaign against the Khitan Shengfan was launched.

The commander in chief of this army is still Zhang Yi. He is the governor of Kunzhou and concurrently serves as the deputy envoy of overseas economic strategy. In fact, the Song army has already dispatched troops. Soon, the Song Army fleet entered the Huntong River.

It’s just that the Northern Fleet is very low-key this time, not attracting attention, and Yelu Hongji didn’t take it too seriously. Last year, the Khitan Shengfan was continuously suppressed by the Song Army and suffered heavy losses. Yelu Hongji came forward to persuade the students from all over the country to move to Beijing. There are very few Khitan Shengfan tribes left along the banks of the Huntong River.

Zhang Yi also discovered this. He dispatched troops for ten days and only wiped out two Khitan Shengfan tribes. The [-] Shengfan tribes marked on the map that slipped through the net last year were all gone. null.

Commander Liu Kun said to Zhang Wei: "My lord, it should be that our suppression of the Khitan Shengfan tribe last year aroused the vigilance of the Liao court, and the Liao court moved them away."

Zhang Yu nodded, "I think so too, but it's just an inference and needs to be proven."

"It's easy, just go and interrogate the caught students and you'll know."

Liu Kun left in a hurry, and Zhang Wei stood in front of the map with his hands behind his back, meditating, and a bold plan gradually emerged in his heart.

Not long after, Liu Kun came back, and he said with a smile: "Sure enough, we guessed right. Last autumn, the court of the Liao Kingdom transferred all the tribes of Shengfan to Shangjing. These two tribes were unwilling to leave and were killed by us. .”

Zhang Wei pondered for a while and said: "Since we have come, we can't return without success. I'm thinking about whether we should change our plan."

"What do you think, sir?"

Zhang Wei pointed to Huanglong Mansion on the map and said: "We are only two hundred miles away from Huanglong Mansion, why not capture Huanglong Mansion directly, what does General Liu think?"

Huanglong Mansion is the most important town in the north of Tokyo Road. With the capture of Huanglong Mansion and the fleet controlling the banks of the Huntong River, the northern part of Tokyo Road actually fell into the hands of the Song army. Zhang Yi had this idea a long time ago, and now he realizes that the opportunity is coming. up.

Liu Kun patted his thigh and praised: "This is a good plan. I will send scouts to investigate the situation in Huanglong Mansion."

That night, a hundred large ships set off again under the cover of night, heading for Huanglong Mansion two hundred miles away.

Although the Liao army defeated the Song army a few months ago and their morale was high, the victory did not change the plight of the Liao army's meager strength. After the fall of Xijing, the Liao army has dropped to less than 20, and the tribes of the grassland have publicly rejected it. Sending troops made Yelu Hongji very helpless.

However, the old ally Xi clan has been squeezed out by the Liao state, and the last [-] troops were also incorporated into the Liao army. Now only the old, weak, women and children are left in the Xi people.

The only source of conscription is the people in the cities of Tokyo Province, mainly Khitan civilians, but they are now the only source of revenue for the Liao Kingdom. If they are forced to join the army, it is tantamount to completely cutting off the source of revenue for Tokyo Province.

Yelu Hongji had to carefully consider this serious consequence.

But what bothered Yelu Hongji even more was that he received news from the capital that Fan Ning had been employed again. This news made him feel like he was sitting on pins and needles. A literati like Han Jiang didn't know how to fight, but Fan Ning was in trouble.

Xiao Weixin comforted Yelu Hongji and said: "Your Majesty, since Fan Ning has already taken office, we have to face the reality. As long as we firmly control the Liaohe River Basin and the Jinzhou line and give full play to our cavalry advantages, we will not be afraid of Fan Ning's return to office."

"That's all I can think of."

Yelu Hongji sighed, "I just got a piece of news that Huanglong Mansion has been captured by the Song army. It is estimated that the Song army came from Kunzhou, but the news is not clear. The Privy Council thinks that we are going to send an army. Going north?"

Xiao Weixin thought for a while and said: "The role of Huanglong Mansion is mainly to facilitate the management of Khitan students, but most of the students have been moved to Shangjing, so the role of Huanglong Mansion is not great. Besides, the population of Huanglong Mansion is less than [-]. It is necessary to spend precious troops to fight for it, but it is necessary to prevent the Song army from using Huanglong Mansion as a base to go south, and I suggest that we increase troops to Tongzhou to guard the north gate of Liaoyang Mansion."

Tongzhou is Siping today. It is located between Huanglong Mansion and Liaoyang Mansion. It is the only way for Huanglong Mansion to go south to Liaoyang Mansion. It is also the north gate of Liaoyang Mansion. Its strategic location is extremely important. The current situation of the army is insufficient.

"Ai Qing is right. Now that we have insufficient troops, we really can't care too much about the gains and losses of a city or a place. We must focus on the key points."

Yelu Hongji agreed with Xiao Weixin's suggestion and ordered General Yelusu to lead [-] troops northward to take over the defense of Tongzhou in the north.

Jinzhou is the most important defense of the Liao army. There are currently 50 Liao troops stationed in Jinzhou, led by Liang Wang Yelu Hongtai, but it is obviously not enough to rely on [-] troops to defend Jinzhou. There are [-] Song troops on the front line of Pingzhou.

Yelu Hongji used a flexible strategy to station [-] cavalry in West Liaozhou between Jinzhou and Liaoyang Prefecture. It is a one-day journey from West Liaozhou to Jinzhou and Liaoyang Prefecture. The cavalry in West Liaozhou can arrive within a day.

For the same reason, the Liao Army also stationed [-] cavalry in Jianzhou between Dadingfu and Jinzhou, which is also a one-day journey away from Dadingfu and Jinzhou. If the Song army breaks out from Pingzhou, the [-] cavalry from Jianzhou and the [-] cavalry from West Liaozhou can also be killed in time, so that Jinzhou can have [-] defenders in one day, and they are cavalry. The corridor used the powerful combat effectiveness of the cavalry to fight to the death with the main force of the Song army.

This double-sided tactic is also a trade-off strategy adopted due to the lack of troops of the Liao army. If the Song army attacked Liaoyang Mansion and Jinzhou at the same time, the [-] cavalry in Liaoxi Prefecture would have no choice but to choose to defend Liaoyang Mansion.

Yelu Hongji also knew this very well. If the Song army attacked on two fronts, he could only count on the [-] cavalry from Jianzhou to support Jinzhou.

At one o'clock, a huge fleet slowly arrived at Juehua Island. Juehua Island was abandoned because the Liao army had no navy. Only more than 1000 monks lived in the monastery on Juehua Island.

But the goal of the Song Army was not Juehua Island, but Anchang County in the north of Juehua Island. Anchang County is a county under the jurisdiction of Jinzhou, only [-] miles away from Yongle County, the prefecture of Jinzhou. The coast of Yongle County is difficult to land, but Anchang County can.

One hundred thousand stone ships loaded with [-] elite troops landed in Anchang County.

One month after inspecting Laizhou, Fan Ning finally made his move on Jinzhou.

There is only one way to break the joint defense of Liaoxi Prefecture and Jianzhou against Jinzhou, and that is to take Jinzhou within a day from the dispatch of troops. When the enemy cavalry arrives, Jinzhou is gone.

However, it took three days to send troops from Pingzhou, and it was obviously impossible to complete this important task.

The only way to transport troops to land by sea was to evacuate the [-] national army from the sea in the subsequent Liaoshen Campaign.

The Song army has a sea advantage, so of course it must be fully utilized.

One of the most important reasons for choosing to land at night is to buy time and delay the Liao army's request for help from Liaoxi Prefecture and Jianzhou to the greatest extent.

If it was daytime, the Jinzhou defenders could send pigeon letters to the two places in time, but at night the pigeons could not fly, and the opponent either sent cavalry to ask for help, or waited until dawn to send the letter, which won the Song army for a long time. In addition to the one-day consumption on the reinforcement road, it actually gave the Song army at least one and a half days.

The landing of 5 people is a necessary course for Song army training. The Song army has practiced many times. In addition to [-] elite soldiers, there is also a material transportation team composed of [-] thousand stone cargo ships. They will enter the Xiaoling River from the Bohai Sea. Arrive directly at the city of Jinzhou.

At two o'clock, the [-] navy had landed and assembled, led by the commander Yang Ying, and rushed to Jinzhou City [-] miles away.

Yang Ying is the grandnephew of Yang Wenguang, the leader of the new generation of Yang family generals. He is less than 30 years old, but he is wise and courageous, bold and careful. The bigger the scene, the calmer he is. In the middle of the battle, Fan Ning made great military exploits and was appreciated by Fan Ning. He specially transferred Yang Ying from Datong Mansion and made him the chief general, leading an army of [-] to capture Jinzhou.

(End of this chapter)